1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a filing wallet assembly that includes a filing pouch and a filing case that has an expanding file which may be utilized together or separately from each other. The filing case has releaseable fasteners on its back cover that are detachable from corresponding fasteners on the front cover of the filing pouch. The closure flap of the filing pouch encloses the filing case within the confines of the filing pouch when the filing case is attached to the filing pouch.
2. Description of the Prior Art
At present, portable filing wallets are designed to accommodate documents and other small articles of different sizes. While some articles and papers, for example, thick reports, are conveniently stored in a relatively large pouch, in other cases it is more useful to separate different papers with divider sheets. The use of divider sheets provides a means of segregating related papers so that they may be accessed conveniently. Such divider sheets may be provided within an expandable filing case to greatly enhance the accessibility and ease of viewing the documents in the file.
The present invention provides a convenient system for storing and transporting different types of documents in a single wallet structure having different filing systems. Specifically, and briefly stated, the present invention is the combination of a filing pouch having a foldable and enveloping flap, and an expandable filing case subdivided into a plurality of file pockets by divider sheets.
One primary object of the present invention is to provide a combination structure suitable for carrying both thick, bulky documents, and also documents that are much thinner and which are sorted into indexed filing pockets so that they may be found easily.
A further object of the invention is to provide such a combination document filing and transporting device with an expandable folder access system so that documents in the filing case are readily visible when the filing case is opened. The sides of the filing case are constructed with pleated, accordion folds so that as the filing case front cover is drawn away from the top of the rear filing case cover, the contents of the filing case between the indexed, tabbed dividers in the individual pockets are readily visible.
A further object of the invention is to provide such a combination with releaseable fasteners, so that the filing case may be wholly or partially separated from the filing pouch.
The wallet structure may be constructed in two versions. In one embodiment the filing case is completely detachable from the pouch so that the pouch and filing case may be utilized separately. However, the front of the pouch and the back of the filing case are provided with releaseable fasteners so that the pouch and expandable filing case may be releaseably coupled together. When joined in this fashion the foldable flap of the pouch folds over the top of the filing case, as well as the top of the pouch. The pouch and the filing case may thereby be conveniently carried together in a compact and securely closed manner.
In an alternative embodiment, the top of the back of the filing case is permanently secured to the top of the front of the filing pouch. This construction keeps the two filing devices together and prevents them from becoming separated and disassociated one from another.
In one broad aspect the present invention may be considered to be the combination of a filing wallet and an expandable filing case. The filing wallet has a pouch front cover and a pouch back cover both having a top and a bottom. The filing wallet also includes a pouch folding flap joined to the top of the pouch back cover in articulated fashion. In this way the pouch folding flap is foldable over the top of the pouch front cover and unfoldable to expose the top of the pouch front cover.
A pair of pouch side panels are provided each having a top and a bottom and each being attached to the pouch front and pouch back covers from the tops to the bottoms thereof. The filing wallet also has a pouch bottom panel extending transversely between the pouch side panels and between the pouch front and back covers. The filing wallet thereby forms a pouch file pocket between the pouch front and pouch back covers, the pair of pouch side panels and the pouch bottom panel.
The expandable filing case has a filing case front cover and a filing case back cover, both having a top and a bottom. The filing case also has a plurality of filing case file section dividers having opposing mutually parallel, upper and lower filing case divider edges and opposing, mutually parallel side filing case divider edges oriented perpendicular to the upper and lower filing case divider edges.
The filing case divider side edges are coupled to the filing case front and back covers with a plurality of accordion folded pleated connections. The bottom edges of the filing case file section dividers are closed, thereby forming a plurality of filing case pockets between the filing case file section dividers and the filing case front and filing case back covers. The filing case back cover is connected to the pouch front cover. The filing pouch foldable flap is foldable over the filing case to both close the pouch file pocket and envelop the filing case between the filing pouch foldable flap and the filing pouch front cover.
Preferably, the filing case includes a single, stiff sheet of covering material that is folded to delineate the filing case front and back covers and which is folded further to delineate a filing case bottom panel between the filing case front and back covers. The filing case bottom panel thereby forms a closure member beneath the filing case file section dividers.
Releaseable fastening members are preferably provided and include mutually engageable first and second fastening member elements for connecting the filing case back cover to the pouch front cover. The first fastening member elements are permanently secured to the filing case back cover. The second fastening member elements are permanently secured to the pouch front cover. The mutually engageable first and second fastening member elements are preferably comprised of flexible fabric hook and loop fastening members.
In one embodiment the pouch front cover and the filing case back cover are permanently secured together across their tops. The releaseable fasteners are located at the bottoms of the pouch and the filing case. The first fastening elements are permanently secured to the bottom of the filing case back cover while the second fastening elements are permanently secured to the bottom of the pouch front cover for registration and engagement with the first fastening elements. The bottoms of the pouch and the filing case may thereby be pulled free from each other while the filing case remains secured to the filing pouch by the permanent attachment at the top of the back of the filing case and the top of the front of the filing pouch.
In another embodiment of the invention the first and second mutually engageable and releaseable fastening elements are located at the top and bottom of both the pouch front cover and the filing case back cover and there is no permanent connection between the pouch front cover and the filing case back cover. In this embodiment the filing pouch and filing case may be completely detached from each other by disengagement of all of the first and second releaseable fastening elements. Both embodiments provide the capability of attaching the pouch and expandable file together and transporting them as a unit.
The filing case is preferably configured to have expandible pockets created by side panels folded from top to bottom with accordion folds. The user is thus able to compactly collapse documents within the filing case for ease and convenience in transporting a plurality of filed documents. When the user wishes to withdraw the documents from the filing case once the pouch cover flap has been opened, the expandible sides of the expandable filing case allows the top openings of the filing case pockets to be spread wide, so that the user can easily find particular papers or other articles within the portable filing device.
The filing pouch employed in the combination of the invention may be formed having a back cover, a pair of opposing side panels, a bottom panel, a front cover, and a closure flap. The back cover and closure flap are formed from a common sheet of stiff, but flexible protective material, such as heavy gauge polypropylene or polyethylene plastic. One or more folds delineate the back cover from the folding flap of the filing pouch. The filing pouch may be closed by folding over the closure flap from the top of the pouch back cover to cover the pouch front cover. Some closure device, such as an elastic loop attached to the folding flap near its free edge may be utilized to hold the filing pouch closed shut.
Releaseable fasteners, such as flexible hook and loop fastening pads sold under the registered trademark Velcro(copyright), or metal snap fastening devices, are provided to allow the filing pouch to be attached to the filing case. The detachable fasteners on the back cover of the filing case are positioned for selective engagement with corresponding fastening members on the front cover of the filing pouch. In one embodiment of the invention the releaseable fasteners are the only form of connection between the filing pouch and the filing case. In this embodiment the releaseable fasteners allow the filing case and filing pouch to be united together in a fully detachable manner for ease of transport. Furthermore, the engageable attachment feature aids in preventing the expandable filing case from becoming lost or misplaced since it is attached to and encompassed within an enveloping structure, namely the pouch front cover and the foldable filing pouch flap that entraps the filing case within the enveloping confines of the filing pouch. Nevertheless, the filing case may be completely detached and removed from the larger filing wallet.
In a different embodiment of the invention the releaseable fasteners are located only at the bottom of the back of the filing case and the front of the filing pouch, and the top of the back of the filing case is permanently secured to the top of the front of the filing pouch by a hinged connection. This arrangement prevents the filing case and filing pouch from becoming inadvertently separated.
In another broad aspect the invention may be considered to be a portable document storage device that includes: a portable file folder pouch formed of a pouch file base sheet upon which a pouch file back cover and a foldable pouch file flap are delineated. A pouch front cover is also provided and pouch side panels and a pouch bottom panel are disposed between the pouch front and back covers. The pouch side and bottom panels are joined to the pouch front and back covers and include an accordion folding or collapsible pleat throughout between the pouch front cover and the pouch back cover. This construction allows the pouch pocket formed between the pouch front and back covers to be collapsed or partially collapsed, depending upon the thickness of the documents stored therein.
The portable document storage device further includes a filing case formed of a case base sheet upon which a case back cover having upper and lower edges, a case bottom, and a case front cover having upper and lower edges are delineated. A plurality of filing case section dividers are provided. Each filing case section divider has opposing, mutually parallel, upper and lower filing case divider edges and opposing, mutually parallel side filing case divider edges oriented perpendicular to the upper and lower filing case divider edges. The filing case file section dividers are coupled to the filing case front and back covers with accordion folding pleated connections. The bottom edges of the filing case file section dividers are closed, thereby forming a plurality of filing case file pockets. These filing case file pockets are located between the filing case file section dividers and the filing case front and filing case back covers.
Detachable fasteners are provided on the pouch front cover and on the back filing case cover. These detachable fasteners releaseably join the portable file folder pouch and the filing case together.